Today’s photos are for an overseas reader who wanted to see how the William Rast for Target jackets fit before she ordered them online. So here some photos of how the XS fits me:
I’m more comfortable with it unzipped:
And here’s the ruched twill one–this one doesn’t feel as tight when zipped, and I think it looks better zipped anyway…
Now, you all probably think I’ve given up on my trophy wife jacket, but I haven’t. I’ve just not had enough time to find the one key item I want to wear with it yet. But I’ll give you a preview of the Gucci runway shoes I’m dying to feature with it…
I know I can’t wear those shoes except while in my closet, leaning on furniture in there for support. But what can I say, it makes sense to wear trophy shoes with a trophy jacket, right? 
Tags: Gucci, Target, William Rast
Many people fall off the new year’s resolutions wagon by this second week in January, so along that spirit, in today’s FIMTSO episode, I’m cheating a little bit by featuring an item that’s new to my closet. Today’s test item is the something-something I alluded to at the end of the last blog’s entry. But I know that if you are like me, you already have a few black t-shirts in your wardrobe. And if you are really like me, you’re always searching for that next perfect tee, the one that fits just so and that you hope will not lose its shape after the first cleaning.
Test Item: CHANEL 10A wool black t-shirt with embellished trims. LOVE the leather braided into the trim!
Work Look: I’m pairing the tee with a black/white checked tweed skirt from the 09P season. The sweet grey ribbon trim on the skirt actually throws me for a loop each time I put on this skirt–do I match the shoes to the colors on the tweed or to the grey ribbon?? (And who else but Karl would put light grey on black and white?!) But today I’m finishing off the look with the patent black Manolos. Speaking of shoes, at the top of my buy list is a pair of black heels. I think I like the peep-toe, platform pair from Chanel’s cruise 2011 collection, but I’m also still gaga over the YSL pair I saw last week. Hmmm…
Casual Look: We love to layer in Southern Cal so it’s only fitting to slip a slim, grey cotton Mossimo hoodie ($15 from Target!) under my tee. The Gucci grey herringbone tweed pants and black Manolo watersnake boots complete my look. It’s my comfy-casual alternative to jeans and sneakers.
Glam Look: I’ve seen all the great American designers do this look, pairing a formal skirt with a simple t-shirt. So in this third combo I take my cues from Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors (and actually a nod to Ms. Herrera as well), and Donna Karan and pair the tee with a long, bronze, crinkly Nicole Miller skirt. This skirt was actually a dress that I had altered into a skirt (see before and after pics below). I must be in a reptilian mood because in this last look, I’m featuring the Prada python slingbacks.
Tags: Chanel, FIMTSO, Gucci, Manolo, Mossimo, Nicole Miller, Prada, Target, YSL
For some of us, Boxing Day is a secular holiday that falls on the day after Christmas. It may (depending on your employer) buy you an extra day off at work to spend more time with family and friends. Or in my case, with strangers, all of whom afflicted with the same shopping addiction in varying degrees of seriousness. And so this begins the diary of a mad “boxer.”
5:56am: I beat my alarm by 4 minutes but wait in bed to listen to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy as the alarm goes off on my phone. Usually the music puts me in the holiday spirit, but this early on a Sunday morning? Bah humbug!
7:35am: I turn left on Bedford from Wilshire Boulevard to enter the parking structure at Saks Fifth Avenue. Twenty-five minutes till the doors actually open and already there are lines in front of every entrance. I clutch my steering wheel.
7:50am: It’s freezing out here as I queue up at the shortest line I could find. I should have worn those ugly but comfy shoes I wrote about earlier and jeans and a hoodie, but this morning I got into this get up instead because I have an appointment later that requires me to look, well, put together. So I’m in some theory black jeans, black longsleeved tshirt, and Chanel chain link cardigan and captoe mules.
I know, totally inappropriate for power shopping, but heck, I am standing in the middle of Beverly Hills and I even spot a few furs. It’s in the 50s right about now, and that’s basically freezing point for us Angelenos.
Did I say there is a line everywhere I look?
Let’s see what the other gals are wearing, shall we…
8:00am You know all the polite chitchat that was happening in line while we were waiting? All of it goes out the window as soon as the doors fly open, when the women rush in like ants to a piece of candy on the floor. They run, push, pull, shove, shout until they get to whatever item it is that they think they must have to avoid certain death. We are all mad, I tell myself, and some of those women can swing their elbows as effectively as any professional boxer!
I want to run in the opposite direction, but too late; I’m dragged in by the crowd’s momentum, just like on a subway train during rush hour in Tokyo.
9:05am: I’m already done scouring the 3 main floors. Pretty much everything on sale gets another 50% off (except for shoes/accessories), hence, the madness. Gucci and Chanel are excluded from the extra discount, which makes my shopping a lot shorter. I’ve already tried on about 15 items and end up with only the Marni tanks and an Alexander McQueen dress:
I think I’ll get a lot of use out of those fun Marni tanks for layering under cardigans. Here’s how it looks when I try it on later this evening:
9:30am: The shoe department at Saks looks like a disaster area and everything I pick up is not on sale. And I’m not about to stand in line for 3 hours just to pay full price, so these shoes will just go on my wish list for the Spring buys:
9:55am: I hear Banana Republic is also doing a 50% off all sales so I use my Yelp app on my phone to find it in Bev Hills. Turns out it’s just one street over from my favorite corner in this place…hmmm, wonder why :
Anyway, I find a gorgeous, long, black hand-knitted cardigan at Banana for $45. I sortof want to wear it out of the store because it’s still so cold outside!
10:30am: I’ve made it to Century City Shopping Mall to exchange a gift I got from JCrew. Surprisingly I have no trouble finding parking and I’m in and out in under 30 minutes. I pick up a taupe silk shantung embellished top ($21, I kid you not!)…
and a sherpa lined dark green jacket (not $21!) in exchange for the cardigan that was too big:
I kinda want to wear this jacket out of the store as well. It’s much too cold to enjoy this outdoors mall.
Noon: Sheer madness, I tell you, but I’ve just made it to the third mall! Luck must be on my side today because someone gives me her parking space as soon as I pull into the parking garage. I’m here to return a Chanel jacket that was sent to me in two sizes too big. Experience alone tells me that I need to stick to my true size, no matter how great of a magician my alterations lady is. But am I really only here to do a return? Mouhahahahaha.
Let the madness continue in the next entry …
Tags: Alexander McQueen, Banana Republic, Boxing Day, Chanel, Gucci, JCrew, Marni, Saks Fifth Avenue
Most of my friends know about my Tom Ford crush. It’s huge. After all, he’s the man who made me a Gucci girl. And the man who made the exquisitely melancholic movie A Single Man last year. Since his heartbreaking (for me) exit from Gucci in 2004 I’ve been not-so-secretly hoping that he’d circle back to designing womenswear again. So imagine my thrill when this article on Vogue.com popped up today about his latest collection.
Today’s photos are of two favorites out of several Gucci bags I was lucky enough to get during his tenure at Gucci. I love the juxtaposition of velvet or canvas against the crocodile trims….not to mention the fantastic faux gems inside the dragons’ and snake’s mouths. It’s all about the little details that make my heart flutter each time I reach for one of his bags (or shoes, jackets, dresses…).
Of course it doesn’t hurt that he’s also quite easy on the eyes. Too bad his boyfriend thinks so, too!
There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about the downsizing of America, and I don’t mean corporate America. Small revolutions are on the rise around the country, led by women on a collective fashion diet. Blogs, websites, and even parties have popped up like rehab mushrooms for people learning to make do with less. Women (and I suspect some men) are finding liberation in de-cluttering their closets and devoting more time to other endeavors instead of hitting the stores on-line or in person. It’s safe to say consignment stores are the true beneficiaries to this new movement; they now have an endless stream of inventory from people who are clearing out their closets as well as a growing clientele of people who find second-hand items more fitting for their slimmer budgets.
My FIMTSO series was started more or less along the same thinking, as a way for me to maximize what I already have in my closet instead of cramming more stuff inside its bulging walls. I’ve not quite figured out how to go cold turkey with shopping, but since FIMTSOing in February of this year, I’ve definitely learned to buy much less impulsively. It’s made me rethink each buying decision; if I see something I adore but can’t visualize at least 3 different looks with it, I would have to pass. I know a lot of you are already very smart shoppers and way ahead of my learning curve, but I’m a serious addict on a slippery slope journey to rehab. I’ll let you know if I ever kick the habit. You know what they say, once an addict, always an addict. Unfortunately for me, couture is no less potent than meth–but boy oh boy, what a high!
Test Item: theory caramel corduroy pants.
Work Look: For a day/work look, I’m pairing the pants with a dark red Gucci shirt, Valentino slingbacks with mink flowers, and Chanel brown bowler bag.
Weekend Look: For a more casual weekend outing, I’d wear the pants with an army green BR tank under a JCrew dark olive jacket. Dark brown Converse laceless sneakers and dark brown Chanel tote finish the look. I would wear this ensemble to a basketball game or to loiter inside my favorite stores. See what I mean about addiction?
Night Look: Sometimes I wonder if I do have a split personality. A very big part of me loves sequins, and I’m sooo not a sequins kind of girl. But let’s just leave that between my therapist and me. For a night out, I’d up the sparkly quotient with this coral sequined JCrew cardigan over a slinky flesh colored tank. The coppery coral Manolos in an exotic skin and Chanel matte gold 2.55 flap finish my look.
Tags: Chanel, Converse, FIMTSO, Gucci, JCrew, Manolo, theory, Valentino
